Hi-pot testing for every plate

The manufacture of PCR plates requires significant attention to detail. One detail most manufacturers fail to control is the formation of "pin-holes", or microscopic bubbles that form in the thin walls of PCR plates and that allow samples to leak.

To prevent sample loss from these wall defects, Sorenson not only controls and closely monitors the manufacturing process, but we also test every well of every plate we manufacture for the presence of pin-holes using a technique called "Hi-pot Testing." Each plate after manufacture is carefully placed on a metal block similar to the block of PCR machine. 96 or 384 pins then lower into each well and 10,000 volts of electricity is pumped through the pins to the plastic plate.

If a pin-hole is present in a well, a ground-fault will be detected in the block and the plate is rejected. No other manufacturer takes its testing to this extreme. Some do a destructive test at broad intervals, say once every 500 plates, but they can not assure that every plate that passed through their conveyors is free of defects that result in leaks the way we do.